The invention relates to a supply module for insertion into a module chain of functional modules mounted side by side along a concatenation axis and electrically connected to one another in a Z-linkage, with a first coupling surface, which is designed for fitting to a functional module arranged upstream along the concatenation axis and which has a plurality of electric input terminals, and with a second coupling surface, which is designed for fitting to a functional module arranged downstream along the concatenation axis and which has a plurality of electric output terminals, wherein a specifiable assignment of the input terminals to the output terminals is provided, and wherein at least one input terminal is designed as a supply input for feeding in a supply voltage from an upstream functional module and at least one output terminal is designed as a supply output for transferring the supply voltage to a downstream functional module. The invention further relates to a module chain comprising at least one supply module.
From WO 2007/042090 A1, a module system is known which comprises a head module having at least one terminal for an external bus signal on an external bus, at least one pneumatic supply port, an electric supply terminal and, each emerging at the same side, a serial bus interface for an internal bus, an electric supply interface, a multipolar interface and a pneumatic supply interface. The module system further comprises at least one functional module with, each extending from one side to the opposite side and connected to the corresponding interface of the head module, an internal serial bus line, electric supply lines, electric multipolar lines and pneumatic supply lines. The head module converts serial bus signals into multipolar signals for output to the multipolar interface. The functional module selectively branches off at least one of the multipolar lines and implements with a signal carried thereon a pneumatic or an electric function or both a pneumatic and an electric function.